Colbert Stealing From Blogosphere (Again)?

The Gawker Media automotive title is accusing Colbert of using video THEY coaxed out of GM officials on the air, and then giving them no credit.

You might remember that a month or so back, Ze Frank and a number of blogs accused Colbert of repurposing his Nobel Prize donut joke — although in fairness, the joke did seem obvious enough that a paid comedy writing staff could have conceivably come up with it first/as well.

This second allegation of Colbert treating the blogosphere like much of the blogosphere treats “big” media — borrowing content without proper attribution — may have some merit, seeing as it’s an actual media clip (that Jalopnik seemed to have as an exclusive), and not just a somewhat obvious joke.

However, before we work ourselves into a Creative Commonsy lather, we can’t help but think Colbert’s people may have just contacted GM to get the video themselves. Let’s face it — if the Jalopnik could coax video out of the General Motors’ PR folks, chances are Colbert & Co. wouldn’t have too much trouble getting the same video.

Whatever the case, best of luck to the Jalopnik folks on getting a Colbert Report mention. If his audience is active enough to help him beat Chuck Norris in an online vote, we’re betting they’ll bring some pretty significant traffic. Maybe even enough to help them catch their Weblogs, Inc. nemesis Autoblog.